The Gold Rush

The California Gold Rush changed California by creating a larger and more diverse population, establishing San Francisco as one of the premier trade and banking cities in the nation, and the eruption of mining "boom towns."
By the winter of 1848, rumors of gold had drifted eastward across the country, but few easterners believed them. The gold discovery needed validation and President James Polk delivered that in early December of 1848. “The accounts of the abundance of gold in the territory are of such extraordinary character as would scarcely command belief were they not corroborated by authentic reports of officers in the public service.” Polk’s confirmation caused farmers, merchants, and soldiers to begin their western voyage for gold. By early 1849, gold fever was an epidemic. Every family within the nation was discussing gold in the west. Thousands of adventurers with a dream left their homes in 1949, therefore getting the name “forty-niners”.
After word spread...